30 years

[Guest guest]

http://www.leonardjacobson.com/mystic_set.html

 

After more than 30 years of continuous effort to release myself from

the burden of a painful past and live more fully in the present

moment, I find myself no closer to these goals, in spite of having

diligently practiced techniques of catharsis and awareness. Is it

possible that one must pass a certain evolutionary threshold in

consciousness before one can fruitfully apply these practices?

 

 

The simple truth is that it is not difficult to release your self

from the burden of a painful past and live more fully in the present

moment. Given the right guidance and the right understanding,

tremendous transformation should occur within a year, and sometimes

much less than that.I can only assume that your approach so far has

been subtly flawed and I feel the highest level of compassion for you

in this regard. More than likely, there has been a subtle or not so

subtle desire to rid your self of painful memories and emotions from

the past. This is understandable, but not helpful. Usually this

desire is involved in the process of catharsis, with many therapists

either intentionally or unintentionally reinforcing this desire. This

is extremely unhelpful. Painful memories and emotions from the past

must be allowed to surface into the light of consciousness in a

spirit of unconditional love and acceptance. Only then will they

gently and lovingly relax and dissolve Any attempt to get rid of

those feelings or memories is a judgment of them, and judgment locks

them more firmly into place. The only way you can truly demonstrate

unconditional love and acceptance of those painful feelings is to

allow them to be experienced and expressed consciously within you.

They are from the past. You do not have to believe in them or

identify with them. Just allow them expression. Allow them to be

experienced within you. They will then relax. If they are truly

accepted and experienced, they will dissolve, not because you are

trying to get rid of them, but because you have truly owned and

accepted them. If you are angry, just express the anger responsibly.

Anger is outrageous. It is not reasonable. It wants to scream and

shout and cuss and swear. It wants to get even. Allow anger to

express itself through you. Give it its voice, but do not believe in

its story. Just give it space to express itself. Exaggerate it. Ham

it up. Anger responsibly expressed and allowed full freedom leads to

laughter. Anger repressed leads to violence or to illness. Anger has

every right to exist. Just do not dump it on any one. It is between

you and God. No one is responsible for your anger, although your

anger would like to blame others. Allow it to blame. Allow it to

curse. Just do not believe in it. Do not take it out on the one you

believe has angered you.It is the same with hurt. Allow the hurt

feelings to surface. Cry. Sooner or later the tears will dry up, and

you will feel tremendous joy and freedom. There is much more on these

topics in my three books. I cannot repeat it all here. Another thing

you might need to understand is that the awakened state of Being is a

pre-requisite to the healing of the past. You do not just heal and

release the past to awaken into the present. You awaken into the

present to heal and release the past. These two steps in the

awakening process are inter-dependant and support each other. The

first and most essential step is to awaken fully into the present

moment. Deepen into that awakened state of Being. Become more

grounded in that. I share much in my three books on how to accomplish

that. It is not difficult. It is just too much for me to repeat here.

As you awaken into Being, painful memories and emotions, which have

been repressed in the past, will begin to surface into the light of

consciousness. They are received into and experienced within an

energy of love and acceptance which is deeply healing. This in turn

clears a space for you to deepen into Being, which in turn tends to

bring up to the surface whatever else it is within you that is still

in need of healing and release. It is a natural and flowing process,

which becomes almost joyful once you get the hang of it. A similar

approach must be taken with the ego itself. Many spiritual paths

imply that the ego must be defeated and that awakening involves

annihilation of the ego and all that it stands for. The ego cannot be

defeated or annihilated. It can only be loved and accepted into a

state of surrender. I would like to encourage you to purchase my

three books, not because I am trying to sell books, but because I

believe that they will be very helpful to you. They will make a

difference. You could follow that up with a telephone session or an

attendance at one of my workshops or retreats. My sense is that the

whole of humanity is passing or will soon pass through an

evolutionary threshold of consciousness. There is such a thing as

timing. Perhaps now is your time. The only other thing I would add is

that, ultimately, practices will fail. Entry into the present moment

is immediate. It does not require practice. That is true for any

moment of your life. It is not practice that will deliver you, but

rather a gentle remembering to be present. Again I speak of this in

greater detail in my books, particularly the second book, Embracing

the Present. I hope that what I have shared is helpful to you. Please

feel free to follow up with another question if anything is unclear

to you.